Business in brief

Citizen Staff Reports 08/03/12

Two local business leaders have been appointed as the 2012-13 Robins School of Business executives-in-residence at the University of Richmond. John Sherman Jr., retired vice chairman, CEO and president of the investment advisory firm Scott & Stringfellow, and Bob Piazza, former vice president of human resources and talent manager of science and technology company Danaher Corp., will help Robins School students with professional and career development. The executive-in-residence program began with an endowment by the Manville Foundation for Private Enterprise in 1979 to bring distinguished business leaders to the Robins School. Sherman and Piazza will serve as what Robins Dean Nancy A. Bagranoff calls “super-mentors,” available to meet with students and provide guidance in specific professional fields.

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Kristine Nolin, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond, has received a $35,000 grant from Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The two-year Cottrell College Science Award will support Nolin’s project, “Rhenium(V)-Oxo Catalyzed Addition Reactions.” The research looks at bond-forming reactions that are key to efficient syntheses of organic materials and biologically active compounds. The grant will fund equipment, supplies and two undergraduate student assistants. Nolin has taught at Richmond since 2009.

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J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College has been selected as an “Overall Improvement” category winner of the 2012 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Educational Fundraising Awards program, which honors superior fundraising programs across the country. Reynolds received its Overall Improvement Award based on three years of fundraising data. An expert panel of volunteer judges selected winners based on a number of factors including the pattern of growth in total support, evaluation of what contributed to the total support figure, overall breadth in program areas, pattern of growth in each program area, pattern of donor growth among alumni/ae donors and other individual donors, impact of the 12 largest gifts on total support, total support in relation to the alumni/ae base and type of institution.

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ToysRUs, Inc. has announced the opening of eight new side-by-side locations and the transformation of 13 existing stores by the end of 2012, including one in Henrico. The location at 11895 W. Broad St. will bring ToysRUs and BabiesRUs together in one store, offering customers a streamlined shopping environment. The company embarked on its integrated store strategy in 2006 with renovations to current stores and began opening side-by-side locations constructed from the ground up in 2007. ToysRUs, Inc. currently operates more than 190 side-by-side stores in the United States.

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The National Institutes of Health – National Cancer Institute has awarded John Gupton, professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond, a three-year, $348,572 grant for continuation of cancer-related research on pyrrole-containing substances. The project continues Gupton’s previous NIH-funded research that he believes could lead to “a novel and viable clinical candidate for cancer chemotherapy.” Working with Gupton will be a postdoctoral research associate and several Richmond undergraduate students. Gupton has taught at Richmond since 1999.

University of Richmond’s Office of Alumni and Career Services has hired Frank Allen as associate director of career services and also filled two assistant director positions. Anna Todaro and Jesse Wingate will join the office to provide career advising. Allen will counsel students interested in financial careers. He has more than 15 years of business experience, most recently as vice president, real estate investment banking, at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. Todaro received a master’s degree in in higher education and student affairs in 2012 from the University of South Carolina. She will counsel students about careers in social impact, arts management and education. Wingate will focus his advising on careers in the sciences and healthcare. He previously served as assistant director for career services at Dartmouth College.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88, stopped at Richmond Raceway Aug. 8 in advance of the track’s NASCAR weekend in September. He was joined by five players from the Washington Redskins, who were in town for the team's training camp, which concluded Aug. 14. The day in Richmond gave Earnhardt and the Redskins players an opportunity to see how the athletes compete in their respective sports. > Read more.

The READ Center is a top-200 cause finalist in State Farm’s Neighborhood Assist program, making it eligible to earn a $25,000 grant to support adult literacy in the Richmond region. The 40 organizations from across the nation with the most votes will win grants.

The READ Center, based in Henrico, provides classroom instruction and one-to-one tutoring to adults with very low literacy. > Read more.

The host Glen Allen 14-year-old all-star baseball team won two of its first three games in pool play at the 14-year-old Babe Ruth World Series, which is it hosting at RF&P Stadium in Glen Allen. The team beat the Midwest Plains champions, 9-4, in its first game Aug. 10, then topped the Southwest champions, 7-3, Aug. 11 before dropping a 5-4 result to the Ohio Valley champions. > Read more.

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Each month, the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Richmond Chapter conducts support group meetings to provide the community with an opportunity to meet for mutual support and to exchange coping skills. A LGBTQ Dementia Caregiver Support group will meet at 6 p.m. at Jewish Family Services, 6718 Patterson Ave. For details, call 967-2580.
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